Because you deserve a good read…

I will direct you to someone else’s blog. Ha! But seriously, folks. I have a new friend, Alison Foster (an actress/personal trainer/wonder woman in NYC) who writes an awesome blog about fitness AND reality Tv related to fitness. Check her out at  fosterfitness.blogspot.com Be careful, tho. I got reading the other day and couldn’t stop for ages! The friend who introduced us the other day has told me for a few years now that Alison is my “twin” in many ways. After having lunch with her and reading her blog, I think he was right. I wish she wasn’t so far away in NYC so we could hang out – and work out! – together. Ah well. We can be blogging buddies for now – I hope she’s at least partially as intrigued by my blogs as I am by hers, but I s’pose I should get over myself and get to telling you about what’s new with me. (wait… ;>)  I will say that I find Alison inspirational in many ways and I am so glad to have met her.

Okay! The latest:

On October 9, 2010, I ran my first 5k!!!

And you know what I learned? That whole “slow and steady wins the race”? Total CRAP. Ahahaha. No. Honestly. I understand that tortoises made that up so that their kids would feel like they had half a chance against those crazy hares, but they are full of it! The hares will win every. time. Ya know what “slow and steady” does? It finishes the race. And isn’t that what counts? (Unless you’re an actual “athlete” – which I am not.) So we’ll say, yes, that’s what counts.

See, I am officially the world’s slowest runner and got schooled by pretty much every person who participated in the race that day, including the asthmatic 70 yr old man who traded places with me a dozen times during the run and then sprinted the last 100 yards just ahead of me (so insulting, don’t get me started). It was exceptionally hard, as we got away from the starting line, to watch not just the people I knew but pretty much EVERYONE  take off and leave me to eat their dust - but I made myself keep jogging. That was the point. Not to win, not to place, not to finish in front of people, but to FINISH. To keep myself running for 3.1 miles, all at once, without breaking or walking or having heart spasms or even stopping to tie my shoe. And I did it. I did it! I could not have done that a year ago or 6 months ago or even this summer. Last fall, I almost had a heart attack every time I tried to run for more than a few minutes (which is a whole other issue). So that was pretty great, really.

I get these grand ideas – always when I am not physically running, usually when I am, say, sitting down somewhere comfortable – that I should run a marathon at some point. And because of the mentality I have about such things, I would want to run the whole thing. Because I know I could walk a marathon. I excel at walking and I am a seriously fast walker. If you have ever had to walk anywhere with me, you know this. My parents are fast walkers and I had to keep up as a kid and now even they want me to slow down, but I find it incredibly difficult to walk really slowly. Anyway! I get these ideas about running a marathon. When I am not running. And then when I am, for example, running a 5k (and-wanting-to-die), I wonder how I could ever be so completely delusional that I actually think I can/will run a marathon.

And then when I am done running and have taken a nap and some ibuprofen (did I mention I did the 5k on about 5 hours of sleep? not totally my fault as I was woken up just as I was falling asleep and then it took AGES to fall asleep again – that surely made it much more painful than it needed to be), I think “Oh I could totally do it. I just need to train! It’s only… EIGHT TIMES what I just did… .. .”

Sometimes I really have to wonder about my sanity (and completely misplaced optimism).

BUT at the same time, if the people on the Biggest Loser can do it, why shouldn’t I? If you don’t set lofty goals for yourself, you have nowhere to go. It’s really important to have goals (personal, professional, physical) or you just kinda end up sittin’ on your butt a lot and not doing anything. And then what’s the point?

Can you tell I have kind of an issue with people who let themselves be stagnant? “Do something different!!!” as we say in the Getty household.

In other news, I am freezing my gym membership for the next 2 months. I will be traveling a lot in Dec so that would be a waste of money, but in November, I want to stay home and do the P90 workouts again to work on getting stronger and more sculpted. I also got Jillian Michaels’ “No More Trouble Zones” DVD recently and look forward to her kicking my behind into oblivion. I have gotten complacent at the gym since my tri, methinks. I still go multiple times each week, and for the last month +, I have made a point of making at least one workout per week over an hour long. I’ve gained a little weight since this summer and I can’t blame it all on muscle-building.

It is just so darn hard to lose 10-20 lbs and keep it off. It really is. And I have hormone issues that make it harder to lose weight, blah blah blah blah me me me (that’s from Finding Nemo, fyi). The point is, I want to focus on really working hard and pushing myself w/ all the sculpt stuff this next month (I may try to borrow P90X from my “coach” if I’m feeling really crazy), and I’m going to try to eat really well. Because, see, I am turning 25 in one month and that is a big honkin’ deal. And I want to look and feel awesome for that and not look back.

I went to a Zumba class tonight for the first time. I almost left after ten minutes because I felt so lost, but then “Single Ladies” came on and you can’t not smile when you’re doing THAT dance so I stayed, and then hit the elliptical for awhile. Hopefully I won’t be too sore tomorrow :>)  Also, I did a yoga class last week (vinyasa – so challenging!) and am planning to go again this Wed and make the most of my last week at the gym. I think it’s good to add a bit of “muscle confusion” by adding new and different things to my workout routine so it isn’t so  (duh) routine for my body. It’s nice to not be bored, too! That Zumba class zoomed by, for sure. I was so focused on not falling down, I couldn’t think too hard about how hard I was working. And how much harder the rest of the class was working, haha. They were far bouncier than I.

Anyhoot! That’s what’s new ’round these parts. What’s new with you? Anyone meet any neat goals lately, big or small? Do tell!

Peace,

-the Getty girl

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